They’re known for their fierce on-screen personas, but the hit stars of The Chase took on a whole new look on the red carpet on Tuesday.

Chaser Anne Hegerty, who has recently gained fame on the Australian version of the show as ‘The Governess’, and her co-star Mark Labbett looked a world away from their usual smart and safe appearance.

They were at England’s National Television Awards, and Hegerty stood out as she posed for photos in a long sparkly white-and-silver ball gown – although she refused to flash a smile, in keeping with her on-screen character. She added a huge fur wrap around her shoulders as the celebrities battled the chilly weather for the annual bash.

Anne Hegerty glammed up for the night. Source: Getty.

It wasn’t just her wardrobe choice that made her shine either. She chose heavy eye make-up and blusher – far from her usual bare-faced appearance on the show.

Hegerty is known for facing contenders in smart, often black or grey suits, signifying her no-nonsense approach. Her co-star Mark Labbett has a similar wardrobe, but he threw it out for a more relaxed appearance too – choosing a smart suit and dark open-necked shirt.

Meanwhile, fans got a shock recently when the show’s official UK Twitter account shared a photo of them all in casual clothes behind-the-scenes – and they looked almost unrecognisable.

Mark Labbett flashed a very rare smile. Source: Getty.

As TV star Rylan Clark-Neal wrote: “This photo of the chasers out of costume GIVES ME LIFE good luck tomorrow you lot,” Hegerty clearly saw the funny side and responded: “We weren’t actually warned that someone was going to put it on Twitter! #scruffday.”

The Governess recently appeared on UK TV alongside co-star Shaun ‘The Destroyer’ Wallace, to reveal how they often beat contestants who appear on the hit quiz show.

Hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford were keen to find out how the Chasers knew so much information that typically leads them to win.

“How do you know what you do know?” Eamonn asked the pair. “The rest of us, we go there and it’s whatever, little bits of knowledge, but do you guys, to be at your level, do you constantly have to study and update?”

The Destroyer answered first, informing the show’s hosts that he is a full-time barrister. He suggested that he only concentrates on facts he doesn’t know when he does study. He gets his information by reading newspapers, watching TV and even admits to recording other quiz shows so he can test himself. “I’m only interested in the questions I get wrong,” he explained.

The Governess, on the other hand, said that she relied on the internet for her research purposes. “I use the internet an awful lot,” she told Eamonn and Ruth. “I’m always on news websites. I also do a lot of quizzing. I do online quizzes every morning.”

She described the quizzes as “competitive”, but admitted you need to have a very good memory to remember so many different facts and figures. Shaun added that “no information is useless information”. He also joked that Anne was smarter than him.